Video Drawing Blog

My very first Gouache painting. The technique to use this paint reminds me of oils, but you cannot really do light on top of dark and blend so well, because you have to blend with a damp brush. Gouache dries almost instantly, so to blend, you have to reactivate with water. You lay down patches, then blend them together like you do with oils, but with oil you dry brush blend.

So you want to lay in the darks, then mid tones, then keep canvas or watercolor paper blank for the light tones and highlights. Block those in without any paint under them. Then use a damp brush to blend them together.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy the process too much, but it wasn’t bad either. I am going to try water soluble oil paints next.

It sucks because I bought $100 of 14ml tubes of Gouache. Only 8 tubes, lol. But that is all I need to create any color. Also, gouache dries super fast on your pallet, so you want to keep it on a wet cloth and spray.mist it here and there so it doesn’t gum up.

However, gouache is great to add bright light into a watercolor painting, or subtle highlights. Melts right into the watercolors and looks nice.

Last thing. Gouache dries pasty, matte, almost like cheap poster paint, and BTW, I am using some of the best in the world. Some colors are $30 for a 14ml tube. Small tube. I will be spraying my painting down with a semi gloss.